A flight simulator made out of a real 737 cockpit

[Trent] sent in an awesome story about a single man who bought the nose of a 737, put it in his garage, and built a flight simulator inside the cockpit. His name is [James Price], and right now the only thing we’re wondering is when we can have a visit.

The cockpit came from an aircraft boneyard in Oklahoma. After [James] plunked down $1500 for the shell of a cockpit, he moved his new toy to a Livermore, California aircraft hangar and eventually into his garage. While the plane is meant to be a simulator, [James] is a tinkerer at heart: he says the best part of building his 737 is building the systems, programming the computers, and making everything work together. We’ve got to admire that.

Of course this isn’t the first cockpit-in-a-garage build we’ve seen. Years ago we featured an Avro Lancaster, and just a few months ago we saw a strikingly similar replica 737 flight deck (it’s made out of wood, and not a real 737). [James]’ build is one of the very few home-built simulators made out of a real airplane. Someone get this guy an F15 cockpit stat.

There’s a problem with this. If he ditched the pull-down screens and went with a wrap-around display, that would greatly reduce the “I have a 737 in my garage” factor. It’s just not the same if you can’t see the entire thing from his sidewalk.

Most of these at home flight sims use X Plane. It probably has the most compatibility as far as “peripherals” go (but this takes it to another level). But man, I’d love to have one of those! I have a little desktop sim i made after reading reviews on http://flightprofessor.blogspot.com/ and I’ve been proud of it but oh man… this is on a another level!